{"id":992468,"date":"2026-05-29T15:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T15:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/992468\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T15:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T15:10:21","slug":"the-names-aquilina-yell-actor-cast-as-james-bond-in-new-major-video-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/992468\/","title":{"rendered":"The name\u2019s Aquilina\u2026 Yell actor cast as James Bond in new major video game"},"content":{"rendered":"

JAMES Bond is one of the most iconic roles in cinema history \u2013 and let\u2019s face it, most young boys have at some point dreamed of being the one to fill that iconic black tuxedo.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Generations of cinemagoers have gawped up at the big screen at the litany of cool gadgets, fast cars and witty one-liners and wished it could be them in the role.<\/p>\n

Actor Luke Aquilina himself long imagined what it would be like to be the super spy \u2013 only now he is a little closer to knowing the answer.<\/p>\n

Aquilina, who grew up in Yell, revealed this week that he performed the motion capture work for Bond in the newly released 007: First Light video game \u2013 which was released on Wednesday to rave reviews.<\/p>\n

Luke Aquilina (inset) performed motion capture on 007: First Light as James Bond.<\/p>\n

In fitting Bond style, Aquilina has been sworn to agonising silence for a whole four years while the game has been in development.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old said he got into acting with the specific goal of portraying Bond, Doctor Who or a superhero \u2013 and called his Bond experience a \u201cdream come true\u201d.<\/p>\n

Aquilina has taken on motion capture work for as many as eight video games \u2013 some of which he cannot talk about yet \u2013 and said this seemed like a normal job at first.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea what it was I was going to be doing,\u201d he laughed as he spoke to Shetland News from his home in Streatham, South London, this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got an email from my agent saying \u2018hey, there\u2019s this job in a mo-cap [motion capture] studio, are you free\u2019, and I just said \u2018yeah\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got given the script, which came with documents to sign and a password saying it would expire in 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Already a member? Sign in<\/strong><\/a> to hide this message.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen I opened the script there were a lot of references to James Bond. There\u2019s not many ways you can hide that it\u2019s James Bond!\u201d<\/p>\n

Only on the way to the studio did Aquilina get confirmation that he had just signed up to play James Bond.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a bit of a freak out at that point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally you would have liked to have more time to prepare for a thing like that, when it\u2019s one of the most well-known things in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

He spent two days in the studio acting out James Bond\u2019s movements, which are used within the game.<\/p>\n

When gamers press play on First Light and move the iconic character around, it will be Aquilina\u2019s movements that they see as Bond walks, runs and jumps.<\/p>\n

Bond\u2019s face and voice, however are provided by actor Patrick Gibson.<\/p>\n

Aquilina explained it thusly: \u201cEssentially a famous celebrity\u2019s face is on my body\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a player presses a joystick forward and the character takes a step forward, that\u2019s the movements that I did,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did the running, jumping, a couple of bits of falling and bits of guns and weaponry, like flicking guns off the floor into my hand.<\/p>\n

He admitted that the mo-cap suit \u2013 basically an all-body morph suit with white balls attached to map out the character \u2013 was \u201cnot quite as smart\u201d as Bond\u2019s tuxedo.<\/p>\n

Incredibly Aquilina then had to wait four years after his two-day stint in the studio to reveal to the world that he was about to be seen worldwide as Bond.<\/p>\n

First Light \u2013 designed by Hitman creators IO Interactive \u2013 has also been one of the year\u2019s most anticipated video games, which has caused Aquilina some difficult moments.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s really difficult to keep your mouth shut,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re speaking to people and they\u2019re saying, \u2018I see there\u2019s a new James Bond game coming out\u2019, and you just have to say \u2018oh yeah, I heard that\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve essentially had to keep my trap shut for four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aquilina is not sure how much of his movement work was used within First Light, and he estimates that another three or four motion-capture artists would have been used too.<\/p>\n

However he knows that enough of his work has been used to ensure that he can firmly add it to the top of his CV.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never had a job of this kind of scale before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first started acting I said I would be completely happy if I could play James Bond, a superhero or Doctor Who.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a dream come true, just to say that I\u2019ve been able to do even tangentially.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Aquilina said it was \u201cutterly bizarre\u201d to know that millions of people the world over will be turning on their PlayStation, PC or Xbox to essentially move him around their screens.<\/p>\n

Aquilina faces an agonising week-long wait to play First Light himself, and said he was \u201cvery excited to play it\u201d after returning from a holiday.<\/p>\n

He was last on the Shetland News pages in late 2024 after booking a role in the National Theatre\u2019s performance of Coriolanus at the Olivier Theatre in London, stepping out on stage every night beside David Oyelowo and performing for celebrity guests like Oprah Winfrey.<\/p>\n

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From Shetland to Shakespeare \u2013 Yell actor stunned by National Theatre opportunity<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As well as his acting and motion capture work, Aquilina has also worked as a stuntman recently on major TV productions such as MobLand \u2013 which stars fellow Bond Pierce Brosnan \u2013 and Sky\u2019s violent epic Gangs of London.<\/p>\n

He also makes an appearance in Guy Ritchie\u2019s In the Grey, released this month, alongside Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal \u2013 with Cavill seen \u2018knocking out\u2019 Aquilina in the finished movie.<\/p>\n

Aquilina set he was set to appear in a couple of episodes of an upcoming TV show, but could not disclose any details yet.<\/p>\n

After growing up in Yell, Aquilina said he was grateful for his \u201cwild child upbringing\u201d and \u201cjust being allowed to go out and be a little weirdo\u201d by his parents \u2013 which he said had fuelled his love of acting.<\/p>\n

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